


The Secret Stiltskin

by Paige_Turner36



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: 5x17 Fix-It, Abandonment, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anti-Blue Fairy, Anti-CS, Anti-Emma, Anti-Heroes, Anti-Hook, Domestic Violence, Episode AU: s05e17 Her Handsome Hero, F/M, Gen, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con ×, Original Character - Freeform, Romance, True Love, True Love's Kiss, Underworld (Once Upon a Time), anti-captain swan, anti-milah
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-03
Updated: 2018-07-03
Packaged: 2019-06-01 20:15:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15150986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paige_Turner36/pseuds/Paige_Turner36
Summary: 5x17 Fix-It. When Hades comes to claim Rumplestiltskin’s second-born child, they discover it’s not Belle’s unborn child. There was another…





	The Secret Stiltskin

**Author's Note:**

> Technically this is the first Rumbelle fic I started writing. And I’ve finally finished. It ended up longer than I expected trying to merge my idea of a “Secret Stiltskin” and reconciling Rumbelle. I'm not entirely convinced I did a great job on this one, but I hope you guys like it.
> 
> Inspiration and credit: Rumple version of 2x16 phone call by hhollandroad http://hhollandroad.tumblr.com/post/128253871244/you-are-a-father-whos-torn-the-world-apart-for 
> 
> And ‘Incredible’ by the incredible Kamdensl http://kamdensl.tumblr.com/post/124962946646/incredible
> 
>  
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own OUAT. This is for fun and not for profit.

‘Leave them, Hades!’

Rumple, Belle and Hades turned. 

A young woman was striding towards them, her face set against the red glare of the sky above them. Rumple recognised her as the shop assistant of the Underworld’s version of the pawnshop, now run by his father. Peter Pan had left the shop at his disposal, including his assistant, which was lucky as she knew all his hiding places if there was an item or ingredient that Rumple couldn’t find in its usual place in the Storybrooke counterpart. But who was she? Rumple had asked her name, repeatedly. He refused to call her “shop girl” as his father had. But every time he asked, she simply smiled kindly and said “Nevermind what they call me” or “It’s not important”, though Rumple couldn’t help detect a hint of sadness, not to mention a faint redness in her cheeks that had nothing to do with the sky.

Now this woman – this stranger – stood firmly in front of Rumple and Belle, facing Hades. Like she _cared_ what happened to them.

‘Get out of the way, girlie. This is not your concern,’ said Hades, sounding bored as if he were dealing with a child.

‘Taking a child from its parents? No that’s very much my concern!’

‘Who _are_ you?’

‘No one,’ said the girl shortly.

‘Then you are unimportant.’

‘You will not touch them. You will not take this child.’

Hades smiled. ‘Actually, I can.’ He flipped the contract open. ‘See? I have here a contract signed by Rumplestiltskin agreeing to give his second-born child to the Healer. The Healer who then signed over all rights to me. As such, I-’

‘You have claim over Rumplestiltskin’s second-born child,’ said the girl and pointed behind her at Belle, still huddled close to Rumple who still had a protective arm around his wife. ‘This is _not_ his second-born child.’

Belle gasped and Rumple started.

Hades, however, laughed. ‘If you mean Regina? Sorry to put a pin in your theory, but Rumple missed out on being her daddy in favour of the fifth in line to the throne. Henry, was it? Didn’t Cora also rip her own heart out rather than love you?’

Rumple felt Belle tighten her grip on him.

‘It’s not Regina,’ said the girl.

Hades looked taken aback for a split second, but brushed it off with an even louder laugh. ‘A _secret_ Stiltskin?! What childish dream is this? How many women do you think were lining up to lay with the village coward let alone the Dark One? Oh! No offense, my dear,’ he added disparagingly to Belle. ‘So go on. I’m intrigued. Who was meant to precede Belle in receiving Rumplestiltskin’s seed?’

‘Milah.’

A stunned silence fell. Rumple couldn’t breathe. _Another child_?

‘Is that credible?’ said Hades.

‘It’s true,’ said the girl calmly, but with a hint of steel. ‘And if you don’t believe me, ask the pirate.’

‘Hook?’ Rumple snarled.

The girl turned to look at him, her dislike and hatred for the man they were risking their lives to bring back mirrored on his face.

‘Yes.’

‘Oh please!’ Hades scoffed. ‘Milah wouldn’t let him touch her after he returned from the war a crippled coward.’

‘Not if she was drunk.’

Rumple swallowed, shuddering at the memory. 

Long before Zelena (the very thought of the witch’s touch made his skin crawl), Milah had returned late from the tavern, Bae spending the night at Morraine’s. Something was different about that night. Usually when Milah returned from the tavern she was in high spirits, that were quickly muted when her eyes fell upon the coward she was tethered to. Now she was troubled, furious even and reeked of drink. Had she lost the little money he’d earned at cards? It turned out her pirate lover had not turned up and she had overheard the Bimbettes talking about Killian and what an amazing lover his was. In a fit of jealousy, Milah had forced herself on Rumple. Her kisses were rough; there was no tenderness in her touch. All she wanted was sex – she _deserved_ sex – even if she had to settle for him, deaf to Rumple’s whimpers, his pleads for Milah to stop. He felt like she was torturing him for information. Worst of all was he _wanted_ to give it to her, but he didn’t know what it was. When it was over Milah rolled off him and went to wash herself of the last half an hour, leaving Rumple in too much pain in his leg and his groin to move. The next day she awoke with a severe hangover and no memory of the previous night and Rumple hadn’t been brave enough to enlighten her. 

Two days later she had run off with the pirate, taking away Bae’s mother and, apparently, his younger sibling.

‘Rumple?’ said Belle gently. ‘Did – did you and Milah… Did she?’

Rumple looked at her and saw concern in her eyes, both for the as yet unconfirmed second child and of what his ex-wife had done to him.

‘Yes,’ Rumple whispered. ‘But it was only once.’

‘Sometimes once is all it takes,’ said the girl. ‘Just ask Miss Swan.’

‘Indeed,’ said Hades. ‘But tell me…’ He walked towards her and stood right in front of her. The girl held the Lord of the Underworld’s gaze, refusing to back away. ‘Where is the child now?’

Rumple held his breath. Would she hand over his second-born child to him? Surely not. She had just said she wouldn’t let Hades take them. Yet he yearned to know where his child was, so that he could find them, to bring them home.

‘Lost,’ she said.

‘You’re lying,’ Hades hissed.

‘I’m not.’

‘You think this will save the Rumbaby?’

‘The child is lost. Has been for many years. I’m not lying.’

For a moment Hades didn’t say or do anything. Then he raised a flaming blue hand, rammed it into her chest and ripped out her heart. The girl cried out as the fire pierced her heart, searching for deception. It felt like an eternity of pain, then –

‘Well…’ whispered Hades, his merciless eyes flicking up to the Golds, a cruel smile curling his lips and said, without any genuine sympathy. ‘My condolences.’ And thrust the heart, none too gently, back into the shop girl’s chest.

Coughing, massaging her chest, the girl said, ‘As I said, you have no claim over this child, so that contract is utterly worthless.’

Hades looked at the paper in his hand, no longer of any use to him as leverage or confirmation of property. Then he ignited the parchment and let it flutter to the ground where it curled into ash. ‘Story of your life, Rumple. Everything turns to ash at your feet.’ He grinned at the broken look on Rumple’s face, the tears in his eyes as if he was watching his child’s funeral pyre. ‘Cheer up. You can’t miss what you’ve never had. And you’ve got a spare on the way. A substitute. Or is it now the substitute of the substitute?’

‘Stop it!’ shouted Belle.

‘Calm yourself, my dear. Stress isn’t good for the baby. You don’t want to cost Rumple another child, do you?’ Hades stooped and plucked a white daisy from the ground. ‘Not exactly how I planned it, but I got what I wanted.’ The flower wilted. ‘Now, this… is a beautiful flower,’ he sniffed and sighed, ‘imbued with my favourite scent: hopelessness.’

There was a flash of fire and Hades was gone.

*

They had won. Their child to be was still their child to be. But it didn’t feel like a victory. Gaston had been condemned to the River of Lost Souls to join Milah; casualties in their battle to save their baby, who was never in any danger. Rumple and Belle had held each other on the docks in wake of their loss: the loss of the child Rumple never knew he had. Any qualms Belle had about pushing Gaston into the river paled starkly in comparison. She’d seen how much Rumple loved Bae, how far he’d gone to find him again, how it destroyed him when Bae died. Nothing was more important to Rumple than family. And to learn that he had had a child out there, lost and unloved was a blow. It would’ve been like Belle losing her baby without knowing she was ever pregnant.

In the pawnshop, Belle found Rumple sitting on the bed holding a doll in his hands. A hand sown doll with shoulder length brown hair, brown eyes and grey peasant clothing. A mini Rumple. Not one of Bae’s toys. Apart from his ball, the only items that had come over with the curse was Bae’s shawl. Was that his second-born’s?

‘Hey,’ Belle said softly joining him on the bed.

Rumple turned to look at her. ‘Belle,’ he looked surprised to see her. He sobered up. ‘How’re you doing?’

‘Shouldn’t I be asking you that?’

‘Belle, I’m sorry. Gaston…You never should’ve been put in that position. Darkening your soul…to save _me_ ,’ Rumple sounded bitter.

‘You just lost your child and you’re worrying about _me_?’ said Belle incredulously.

‘Was it worth it? Our child was saved on a technicality. By saving me in pushing Gaston in the sea you violated your deal with Hades. You would’ve blackened yourself and our child was never in any danger.’

‘But you were,’ said Belle.

Rumple looked at her.

‘I put you in danger. I made you vulnerable. Gaston proved he hadn’t changed, that he would kill you if he had the chance. I nearly got you killed, and for what?’

‘It would’ve saved our child.’

‘And left our child fatherless.’

‘You would’ve been a hero.’

‘If this is what a hero is? I don’t want to be one,’ said Belle firmly. ‘I try and try to be and every time it backfires. I tried to break your curse against your will and pushed you away. I tried to defeat the yaoguai and got captured by the Evil Queen because the men who I sent on a wild goose chase turned me in. I stopped you from killing Hook and he shot me in the back. I tried to bring you back and I got Neal killed and you were enslaved by Zelena. I tried to save Anna after I abandoned her to the mercy of the Snow Queen, and I nearly got us killed. I threw you over the town line and you nearly died – from a heart attack and from the Dark One destroying your ability to love. I was as good as useless in Camelot; Emma became the Dark One and multiplied the Darkness – I abandoned you for six weeks while you were fighting for your life. I couldn’t even heal your heart and wake you, that was Emma – and you were kidnapped and locked up again.

‘I’m not my mother. I’m not Gideon. I’m not Emma, Snow White, David, Regina – I’m not a hero.’

It hurt Rumple to see Belle so despondent. She judged herself just as harshly as he judged himself. He took her hand and squeezed it reassuringly.

‘You are a hero. Gideon was a fairy tale – just as we’re fairy tales in this world. Lady Colette did what any parent would do when their child is in danger. As for the Charmings and Regina? Heroism is overrated. Stop being _them_ and start being _you_.

‘Belle is a hero. Belle doesn’t need magic or a sword, because she’s got the best weapon in the world: books. That’s how you found the yaoguai. That’s how you found Hook’s ship and rescued Archie. People see monsters; you see frightened ogre children, cursed princes…the man behind the beast. You delivered Pandora’s Box to us so that we could stop Pan and by extension save Wendy. You figured out Zelena’s time travel spell. 

‘And as for being useless in Camelot? You helped the great and powerful sorcerer Merlin release Sir Lancelot and Merida where his magical knowledge was limited. You helped Merida save her brothers and ensured she didn’t lose her crown. Everything that transpired in your absence was Emma’s doing. And Hook’s. None of which would’ve happened if you hadn’t gone to Camelot. And you didn’t abandon me; part of me was with you. You were watching over me, talking to me, keeping me alive and should my condition have worsened you would’ve returned to me. If it wasn’t for you, Belle, I wouldn’t be alive. If I hadn’t met you, what kind of man would I have been when I found my son?’

Belle gave him a watery smile.

‘See? They didn’t backfire. Do you know why? Because you weren’t trying to be Gideon, Colette or the Heroes: you were being you. You say you’re not a hero, Belle. You are. You’re my Beautiful Hero. And if the others can’t see that? Who cares? You’re more hero than all of them combined.’

‘Thank you,’ said Belle. ‘I’m sorry, Rumple. I’m sorry I put us both on pedestals. I’m sorry I made you think I wanted perfect. That’s why you took the curse back, isn’t it?’

Rumple looked away and removed his hand.

‘You once told Bae that you loved all of me – even the parts that belonged to the Darkness. Somewhere along the way that changed. You wanted the beast gone. Then when the beast was gone, I became the pure hearted hero, and I still wasn’t enough. I wasn’t expecting everything to be fixed, but I faced a bear, I pulled the Excalibur from the stone, got Merida’s heart back, I didn’t run from Hook’s challenge, even when Emma tried to make me use magic to cheat I refused, I beat Hook on my own merit and I let him live…and I still wasn’t good enough. And I’ll never be good enough.’

‘Rumple-’

Rumple shook his head and Belle fell silent.

‘The Dark One’s marked us all for death. I didn’t want you to see me die; I didn’t want you to die. You didn’t want me, but I wanted you to be happy, so yes, I sent you away to see the world, to save you and to give you your life back, unburdened by me.’

_You’re not a burden_ , Belle said, but in her head because she didn’t want to interrupt him.

‘I was scared. I’d been to the Underworld and it wasn’t exactly fun the first time. But I deserved it. Then Emma came in with her plan to use Excalibur to destroy the Darkness. I was alone, you were gone, and I saw an opportunity to escape this fate, so I grabbed it. You’ve seen what it’s like here. Can you blame me for not wanting to come back? So yes, I turned the sword into a conduit so that all the Dark One’s power would transfer into a safe place. Into me. It was to save Emma as well as myself. The sword chooses its miracles. Henry had already lost his father; I couldn’t have him lose one of his mothers too – not least the mother who brought him into this world. Of course I hadn’t anticipated that Hook would change his mind. One selfless act – cleaning up his own mess – and suddenly he’s a hero and forget the fact he’d just tried to kill us all to satisfy his revenge on me and Emma. 

‘So there I was, alive, alone and with the power of every Dark One inside of me. A hollow victory. Then you came back because Henry told you why I sent you away, that I almost died and suddenly I was everything you ever wanted. Except for the fact I was the Dark One again.’

‘Our timing’s been really bad, hasn’t it?’ said Belle sadly.

‘It took me nearly dying to make you admit your feelings for me, just like it did in the shop. And even then it was false hope. I thought that there was a chance; that it wasn’t too late – you said yourself “it’s never too late”. Did you really believe that or did you just not want my death on your conscience? Or a black mark on your hero record, even if it is me?’

‘ _No_.’

‘I gave you a choice. If you didn’t turn up at the well, I’d be disappointment but I’d have respected your decision. And I’d still have my dignity. But you showed up, just to break my heart. Did you really mean it when you said you wouldn’t decide on anything until the contract was gone, or had you already decided to cut and run with our baby and was just stringing me along until our child was free, even if I did prove myself? You’d make a good Dark One.

Rumple stared unseeingly at the doll he was holding. The man he used to be. Worthless then and worthless now.

‘All my life I’ve tried to be someone worth loving, losing a little part of myself every day. But it never happened. I did that once before with my father, and then with Milah, and I can’t go through that again. If someone can’t love me the way I am, then it’s not enough for me. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in three hundred years, is that expecting someone to love you back just because you love them, is a shortcut to misery. It took me a long time to accept that my father and Milah didn’t love me, and never would. A long time to stop trying to force myself into being a person I thought they might like more. Twisting myself into knots trying to get them to love me. 

‘You said you tried to be everything for me, but you _are_ everything, Belle. You’re all I have left. Bae’s gone, the Charmings don’t see me as family except when it suits their agenda and my own grandson used that bond to spy on me to help his mother force a happy ending for herself. You are everything and if I desire power it’s not because you’re second best, it’s because it’s the only way I know to keep you safe. It’s a tool, a resource, much like yours is books that people scorned your for until it proved useful to them. I don’t love the power, just like the Heroes don’t love the Dark One, but it’s useful. And it’s the one thing that hasn’t left me. You were gone. Bae’s gone. And a child I never met or knew I had is gone. Everyone I have ever loved has left me. No matter what I do, my destiny is to be alone.’

Rumple screwed up his eyes and hung his head, resting his forehead against his miniature self, a small sob escaping from him.

‘ _Why_ did you bring me back?’

Belle recoiled a little.

‘You thought you were saving me, pulling me out of hell. But this? This life you dragged me back into? _This_ is hell. I wish I was under the earth with my son. I wish I was under the earth instead of him… I should’ve died in the Ogres War. No good ever came from me being alive. My father despised my very existence and my own mother didn’t even bother to give me a name. Everyone’s lives would’ve been better. You’d all have your happy endings.’

Tears burned Belle’s eyes at her husband’s confession. She didn’t know what was worse; how short-sighted she had been to his suffering, a suffering she’d been a part of in bringing him back to this world, or the knowledge that Rumple hated himself so much that he wished he’d never been born.

Belle shuddered at the very thought. A world without Rumplestiltskin was unimaginable.

They’d had their problems but not once did Belle ever wish she’d never met him. Not once did she regret resurrecting him, except that Neal had paid the price for their desperation. And _never_ did she wish that Rumple had died, at any stage of his life.

How could she convince him otherwise?

_Everyone’s lives would’ve been better. You’d all have your happy endings_.

Belle thought of all the lives Rumple had been a part of, all the deals he’d made, all the people who’d come to him for help, removing him from those crucial moments and watching it all unravel. _You’d all have your happy endings_. She shook her head slowly. ‘None of that could’ve happened without you.’

Wiping her eyes Belle leaned closer and covered his warm hand with her own. Rumple had shown her her worth and she was going to show him his.

‘You know, my nursemaid used to talk about the First Ogres War. Her great-great-grandfather was a veteran from the Frontlands where the first war raged and he was drafted by order of the Duke. He was only twelve years old.’

Rumple raised his head and looked at her, shocked. Twelve years old? Two years younger than the decreed age for drafting people – _children_ – into a war they couldn’t win.

‘Apparently his father lied about his age to offload him of the responsibility.’

That sounded familiar.

‘He was tall for his age so nobody questioned it. They took him away to fight in a war where he would surely die. And he would’ve done. He had an ogre bearing down on him. But then the ogre disintegrated. The whole army destroyed and the war won by one man, who used the greatest power in the world to save all the children of the Frontlands, not merely his own.

‘Do you think the war would’ve ended without you? That boy would likely be dead if it wasn’t for you. There are generations of families born from the Frontlands – my nursemaid included – who wouldn’t even exist if it wasn’t for you. And do you really think that without you we’d all be here right now? If you hadn’t saved Cora, Regina would never have been born. And if she’d lived Regina would’ve been trapped under her mother’s thumb forever. David and James would’ve died before they had a chance to live. Snow would never have met David. Emma and Henry wouldn’t exist. And I wouldn’t have this gift growing inside me.’

Belle rested her hand on her stomach beneath which their baby was growing.

‘All of our happy endings only exist because of you. Now, you wish you were never born? I promise you I do not. The world is an infinitely better place _because_ you are in it.’

Rumple swallowed. ‘Do you…do you really think that?’ There was no hesitation, but a blooming a hope.

Belle smiled. ‘I think that had I not met you I would be dead. I would’ve been ripped apart by ogres or I would’ve died in a loveless marriage, where I would’ve been nothing but a trophy wife; just a pretty face to be called Gaston’s queen, siring his seven sons, having every day of my life planned, denied the pleasure of reading and watch all my dreams wither and die. I would’ve been a ghost, a shell of my former self. Even my own father called me fanciful. Back in Avonlea it was frowned upon for a woman to share her intellect and speak her mind. But you? You didn’t see an odd girl who had no business being in a war room. You saw “something special”. You always respected and valued my opinion, even if you didn’t always agree with it.’

‘I wouldn’t silence you in a room full of kings. It’s what makes you unique, Belle.’

‘You’re the only one who ever saw that. The way everyone talked about me, you’d think there was something wrong with me. Worse part is, had I not met you, I would’ve believed them. You hear people say it often enough, you begin to think they’re right. That you’re strange, that you will never amount to anything, that you’re useless, a pathetic coward… or a beast. I would’ve twisted myself into a pretzel to be someone I thought they would love, hide the parts of me they don’t like, try to be everything for them. I would’ve truly lost my way trying to win their approval. 

‘You did more than save my life, Rumple. You set me free – more than a few times, even if you didn’t want me to go, you always put me first. You gave me something no one else did: a choice. You challenge my beliefs, but you don’t force me to change them, just change my tactics, change my argument. We balance each other out. I’m the voice of hope, you’re the voice of reason, because you’ve had the benefit of life experience. And sometimes I forget that. Sometimes I forget you’re still healing and it’s going to take time to get over three hundred years of suffering without opening old wounds…and causing new ones. But through all that, you held the Darkness at bay, you held on to the love in your heart. You’re cursed with the darkest of all curses – a parasite – a true monster would’ve been consumed by the Darkness within a decades. But you? You have so much love, goodness and light in your heart and soul that you kept the Dark One at bay for centuries! Has any previous Dark One lived as long with this curse as you have?’

‘…No. Not even close.’

‘Don’t you see how _incredible_ you are? Emma succumbed after six weeks. And Hook hours. And Nimue poisoned the power. But you fought, you held on to your love for your son and found room in your heart for me, and fought to keep your ability to love.

‘You once told me who I was, Rumple. So I’m going to tell you: You are a father, who tore the world apart for your son. You are a wonderful man, who loved a peculiar girl. Really, really loved me. You had a thousand treasures but a chipped cup was the only thing you truly cherished. You treated me like a princess, but saw me for so much more than a beauty, and that never happened before. So when you look in the mirror, and you don’t know who you are… _that’s_ who you are. Thank you, Rumple. My Handsome Hero.’

Rumple was too overwhelmed to speak. And then he smiled, his brown eyes brimming with tears, but it wasn’t a pitying or humouring smile. Belle knew in that smile that he believed her, more than that, he looked like he’d come home. That was how Belle felt after Rumple’s impassioned declaration that she was a hero. So what if the Heroes didn’t see her as one they think a hero should be, but a pawn, a researcher or babysitter? So what if they couldn’t see Rumple as anything but the Dark One, a coward or a villain? Rumple and Belle could see the truth. Neither of them were perfect. They were both alone, they were both flawed, they were both looking for something they couldn’t find out there.

Each other.

The two outsiders, who found home in each other. Loved for who they really are. Imperfect and yet perfect in the other’s eyes. The book with the dustiest jacket. The chipped teacup. Beauty and the Beast.

Their lips met in a kiss of unconditional True Love.

A warm golden glow spread from their lips through their bodies, through every fibre of their being, as though their every sin were being wiped cleanly away, cleansing their souls, enveloping them. And then it reached the dagger in Rumple’s breast pocket. Then a pulse of rainbow light tinged with gold burst from them and spread across the Underworld. The wilted daisies bloomed in its wake and more and more were popping up like…well, daisies. The force of it rattled the trinkets in the shop, blew their hair and the soaring feeling in their hearts made them feel they could take flight.

They gasped as they broke apart. There was magic in that kiss, more powerful than the one they shared in the Dark Castle.

‘What was that?’ Belle asked, feeling lightheaded.

Rumple didn’t say anything, but reached into his suit for the dagger.

‘Oh Rumple! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean – I wasn’t trying to break your curse! I-’

She faltered as Rumple pulled it out. Immediately she knew something was wrong. The handle of the dagger had turned from black to gold, even the markings on the blade where once had been black, then silver had also turned gold. Rumple turned it over and the name “Rumplestiltskin” gleamed gold in the light of the lanterns.

‘I don’t think you did,’ said Rumple.

He raised his hand and conjured a fireball. Except it wasn’t a normal fireball, it wasn’t red, not even gold…it was a ball of white flame.

Rumple held out the dagger to Belle. ‘Take it.’

Belle shook her head. ‘No. Rumple, no. I won’t control you. Not again.’

‘I just want you to hold it.’

Very reluctantly Belle took the knife and held it in her hand. Immediately she felt the change from the last time she held it. She didn’t need to give a command to test it; the invisible threads that linked Rumple to the dagger were gone.

‘I can’t feel anything,’ said Belle.

‘No,’ Rumple agreed. ‘It’s just a knife now. Or just a conduit to channel my magic, like a wand. My… _light_ magic.’ Rumple touched his temple.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘The voices are gone. Nimue, Zoso, even Emma and Hook – they’re gone. It’s so quiet.’

‘Rumple, your hair!’

Rumple stared at her. ‘My hair?’

Belle reached for a mirror and passed it to Rumple, pointing. Rumple looked at his reflection, it looked the same. Except for one silver hair that had not been there before. He plucked it away and stared at the strand.

‘It’s started,’ he whispered.

‘What has?’

‘I’m aging again.’

‘So the curse is broken?’

‘The Dark One’s are gone, my soul is no longer tethered to the dagger, my immortality has been severed and I still have magic – magic lighter than even the Saviour.’

‘But why now? We kissed lots of times before and that’s never happened.’

‘Magic is different here. Maybe because we weren’t trying to break my curse. Or maybe because we finally accepted ourselves for who we are, not just each other. We don’t have to be afraid of who we really are because that’s why we love each other. Isn’t that what True Love is? Unconditional?’

‘So you’re free. More than that, no one can control you, you still have magic to protect yourself and our family, light magic that won’t damage your soul and…you’ll grow old at the same time as me.’

‘Together.’

They smiled at each other. Belle didn’t know she was crying until Rumple reached up wiped a tear away.

‘I’m sorry, Belle,’ Rumple whispered. ‘If I hadn’t stopped our first kiss-’

‘You never would’ve found your son,’ said Belle gently. ‘We weren’t ready back then. My kiss would’ve taken away your magic. Regina would’ve won. Now we understand each other better. We’ve changed. Now we’ve transformed. Like a butterfly. The caterpillar we once were might be gone but we’re still here, just in another form. We were just in our cocoon back then, struggling to emerge. Had our kiss worked, we would’ve widened the opening and set the butterfly free, but it would’ve been too weak to survive.’

‘Like a flower, a delicate thing. You want it to grow and not pluck it before its time. All the same, I was wrong to make you leave.’

‘I was wrong to leave. I could’ve defied you, stayed in the castle. Proved to you that I loved you, that you’re worthy of love. Not punished you because things didn’t happen as they do in my books. Because another attempt at me being a hero backfired.’

‘And I believe I’ve made my case on the matter.’

‘As I have I. We are worthy. We are special. We are loved. And our kiss proves it.’

‘Well, nothing’s more powerful than our True Love.’

Belle giggled and they hugged. She felt warm and safe and loved in her husband’s arms. When she opened her eyes she realised the warm glow of love wasn’t just coming from inside her. ‘Reign in your magic, my love. You’re glowing like a torch.’

Rumple pulled away a little and stared at his hands. Light was indeed shining from his skin, white and pure. ‘That’s never happened before.’

‘That was the Darkness. Before your magic was fuelled by anger and hate, now that it’s gone your inner magic is fuelled by light and love. Still, least I’ll know when you’re glowing you’ll be thinking about me.’

Rumple smiled and puffed out his chest a little. ‘Then I shall glow all the time,’ he declared.

Belle laughed. ‘It might attract attention.’

Rumple laughed too and the white light retreated within him once more. ‘So does this make me the new Merlin? The White Mage? The Light One?’ The Saviour? he thought privately because not only was the idea ridiculous but because he didn’t want to sound pious or vain. And if he _was_ a Saviour he’d have even less peace and quiet then he’d had as the Dark One. In fact the volume of desperate souls and interruptions from the Heroes would increase.

‘It makes you Rumplestiltskin,’ said Belle. ‘Titles don’t mean anything.’

‘Except trouble. Speaking of which, I’m surprised the Charmings haven’t charged in here by now.’

He was right. Not once had they’d been able to have this long a time to themselves without the shop bell tinkling loudly and a marching procession, closely followed by the all too familiar phrase “Gold, we need your help” forcing them to put their needs and problems on hold to clean up other people’s messes.

‘Yes, that is weird,’ Belle agreed. ‘Surely something must have happened. Mind you, it has been nice. It’s given us the time to sort everything out.’

‘Makes a change,’ said a voice.

Rumple and Belle jumped. The shop girl was standing in the doorway that led to the front of the shop.

‘What’re you doing here?’ said Rumple, surprise and welcome in his voice.

‘I came to check up on you. And, um…to give you this.’

She held out a drawstring pouch. Rumple took it and opened it to reveal curled bits of blackened paper. The last remains of the damned contract.

‘I didn’t think it was safe to leave them out there,’ she said. ‘Hades may have destroyed it but better safe than sorry.’

‘Indeed,’ said Rumple, remembering how he had left the shattered crystal ball behind and how Hades had used it to discover the contract and Belle’s condition in the first place and used it to break their deal. Who’s to say he wouldn’t have used the remains of the contract to possibly reassemble it, maybe even edit it.

Of course had Emma had told him that she’d seen his son when she’d passed out, Hades would never have known. Even Henry didn’t know. They may not be friends but Rumple knew what Neal meant to her and would never have kept something so important from her. They were together when he died for goodness sake! But no, she had kept it from him to punish him, choosing to share it instead with the mother who’d abandoned him while they risked their lives to save the man who took Bae’s mother and who had wormed his way into the arms of Bae True Love like the leech that he is. How long did it take Hook to make a move on her the first time they thought Bae had died?

_Now both my children are gone_.

Rumple clutched the bag as if he were holding his child’s ashes.

Was Bae up there now caring for the brother or sister he never knew he had? He hoped so. At least they weren’t alone.

‘I thought you two might need some time alone to process. Workout a few of your…issues.’

‘You wouldn’t have had something to do with that, would you?’ said Belle.

‘I may have put a barrier around the shop. Any time anyone’s tried to approach the shop, they’ve forgotten why they were there and had to dash away again.’

‘Seriously?’

‘Oh yeah. They’ve had the same conversation at Granny’s about fifteen times. But even they will start to notice soon. The customers are giving them funny looks. And déjà vu will kick in eventually.’

‘Well it worked. We were able to sit down and talk. Have the space to grieve. And -’

‘I’m sorry?’ the girl looked confused.

‘The death of a child is never easy. And, much as I hate to admit it, I don’t think the others would’ve understood that. I don’t believe they ever saw Rumple as a being with feelings as acute to a humans. I don’t think they think Rumple is human-’

‘No, she’s not dead.’

Rumple’s head shot up so fast he creaked his neck. Belle stopped talking, shocked.

_Not dead…She…Not dead…She…_

The words went round and round in Rumple’s head. He’d had a daughter. And not just _had_ – he _has_ a daughter!

‘N-not dead?’ Rumple whispered, daring to hope. He had his wife back, their baby was safe, his curse was broken and yet was still able to protect his loved ones. Could fate be about to throw him another gift?

‘But you said so,’ said Belle. ‘You said Rumple’s second-born was dead.’

‘No, I didn’t,’ said the girl calmly.

‘Yes you did! You said –’

‘I said she was _lost_ , I didn’t say she was dead. It’s not my fault Hades misinterpreted what I said and destroyed the contract himself.’

‘You were relying on Hades interpreting it that way,’ said Rumple. ‘You knew the contract could only be voided if he destroyed it.’

The girl nodded.

‘You toyed with words,’ said Belle. Rumple wasn’t sure if she was impressed by the deception or disapproving.

‘People hear what they want to hear,’ said the girl. She picked up the Underworld version the gauntlet. ‘A magic gauntlet with a very special power. It can locate anyone’s greatest weakness. And for almost everyone, that weakness is the thing they love most.’

The girl looked directly at Belle. She didn’t look angry, but Rumple saw Belle shrink a little at her words.

‘ _Almost_ always. Not always. Not absolutely. Rumple’s greatest weakness was the dagger – because it was the one thing that could control him. Enslave him. Make him a pet or a weapon. Force him to obey any command and be powerless to stop himself. He’d murder his loved ones if ordered to. But it’s not the thing he loves most. How can anyone love that? Can you blame him for wanting to be free of it? To be master of his own fate. The gauntlet could never have led to you because you’re not Rumple’s weakness. You’re his strength.’

_“I love you, Bae…And I love you, Belle. You made me stronger.”_

‘Have you been watching me?’ said Rumple, frowning. She had recited his explanation of the gauntlet word perfectly.

The girl looked nervous. ‘Y-yes.’

‘Why?’

‘I wanted to know who you are. I didn’t think we’d meet like this.’

‘Why me? Were you looking for me? You took a job in my shop. Were you waiting for me? Is that why you’re here?’

‘Yes.’

Rumple couldn’t breathe; his chest was constricted. No. It couldn’t be. Could it? ‘Who are you?’

‘I was lonely,’ she said timidly, her voice trembled as much as his.

Rumple moved closer to her. ‘Who are you?’

‘I needed to see you.’

‘Who are you?’

The girl opened her mouth then seemed to lose her courage. She turned as if to leave.

‘No, wait.’ Rumple caught her gently by the shoulders. She stiffened, but she didn’t pull away. ‘Let me look at you.’

His heart broke for her. She looked so unused to gentle touch, perhaps unused to any form of human contact. He knew because he was the same. What was worse, if it was possible, this poor girl had had it worse than him. And that only heightened his suspicious. He turned her slowly to face him, bringing her into the light. He brushed her hair out of her face tentatively and tucked it behind her ear. She closed her eyes and leaned into his touch like a cat starved for affection, tears leaking from under her eyelids. He’d barely pulled his hand away a few inches when she grabbed it in both of hers and brought it back to her cheek, and held it there, looking at him with tears in her brown eyes. His eyes.

‘You are,’ Rumple breathed. ‘You are. You’re mine.’

The girl – his daughter – nodded, her eyes falling more freely in apparent relief at his acceptance of her. Losing all remaining control, Rumple pulled her into his embrace. He held her, slightly harder than he had intended, but he wanted to make up for a lifetime of lost hugs he might have bestowed upon her; the shield of her papa’s arms protecting her from fear, from pain, from her nightmares, the promise of unconditional love, the promise he will never, ever leave her.

‘My darling girl,’ he sobbed into her brown hair.

He felt her wrap her arms around him, hesitantly, as if wondering if she was doing it right. Then she held him tighter, burying her face in his shoulder.

Belle smiled at this reunion. Sensing her gaze, Rumple’s daughter raised her head to look at her with the same longing she’d shown Rumple and she realised her concern for her ran deeper than her desire to protect her half-sibling. Already she saw her as her mother, not a substitute, a replacement or a proxy - her _true_ mother.

Rumple pulled away enough to turn towards her, beaming and holding out his arm, inviting her to join this happy union. ‘My daughter, Belle.’

Belle came over to them, surveying this brave young woman who had saved their family and, through her intervention, allowed the peace and space she and Rumple needed to sort everything out. They embraced and Rumple wrapped his arms around both of them. His beautiful, brave, brilliant girls. And the baby that connects them all. Enveloping them in heavenly light.

‘So,’ said Rumple as at long last he released his darling girls. He felt drunk with happiness. ‘Am I allowed to know your name now, darling?’

And just like that the happiness was gone.

His daughter’s face fell at the question and dropped her gaze. Before she had always brushed it off as something trivial and unimportant. Now that he knew who she was she couldn’t avoid it, but she looked embarrassed. No…ashamed?

‘Sweetheart?’ said Rumple, worried he had upset her and not knowing why. Surely her name couldn’t be that bad. His own father had named him in hate as punishment for the death of his mother, but now he relished it when Belle called him ‘Rumple’. Milah had given Baelfire a strong name to compensate for the shame of being latched to the village coward. What cruel name had she inflicted on their daughter as the last reminder of the husband she loathed and despised and had left without looking back?

‘I...don’t have one,’ said his daughter.

Rumple and Belle looked shocked.

‘Sorry,’ she said quickly, ducking her head as though she expected to be scolded.

‘Sorry?’ said Belle indignantly. ‘It’s Milah who should be sorry! How could she not give her own daughter a name?’

‘Why would she?’ said the girl. ‘A name is a special gift. Why waste it on something you’re not going to grow attached to?’

‘And you never gave yourself a name?’

‘How can I when I don’t know who I am?’

‘Didn’t you ever confront her?’ Rumple asked. With mother and daughter working in such close proximity to each other there would’ve been multiple opportunities for his daughter to demand answers.

‘She could have got back in touch if she wanted to but she didn’t. She didn’t want me. I wasn’t going to waste energy thinking about her. I wouldn’t even be alive is she hadn’t got drunk. You can’t extrapolate a relationship with a biological accident. At least you spent your life trying to find Baelfire. Milah? I was ripped from her body and tossed away like a piece of rubbish. She didn’t give birth, she had something _removed_. And when we did cross paths, she looked at me with the same contempt as the day I was born.’

‘That’s what they told you?’

‘I was there.’

‘What, you remember even from when you were a baby?’ said Belle.

A horrible thought struck Rumple. Milah hadn’t wanted their daughter any more than she had wanted any more children with him, not least because of the contract. She couldn’t’ve bared the thought of carrying a part of her coward husband for nine months. If she wanted to get rid of her so badly she would’ve done something about it. Potions or a knitting needle. Apparently the little maternal side of her stretched just far enough not to kill their baby, just not enough to keep her or drop her off at an orphanage or with her papa.

‘What age are you?’ Rumple asked softly. Then with a hint of steel, ‘And where was Hook in all this?’

‘Looking for a way to get rid of me without damaging his love.’

‘When were you born?’

‘It took a bit of time to research. And then he had to summon the Blue Fairy to help…speed things up at bit.’

The Blue Fairy knew? Oh this was getting better and better? All Rumple needed was Zelena to crop up in this story and his worst nightmare would be complete.

‘When?’ Rumple repeated.

‘She realised she was pregnant two weeks after that night. And she flushed me out of her three days later.’

Three days.

‘And she handed you straight over to the Blue Fairy?’

‘No. She didn’t stick around. But Milah? There was still some dust left over, so...waste not what not.’

Belle looked horrified. ‘They made you grow up?’

She nodded.

‘Without a birthday?’

Trust Belle to think of that.

‘She took one look at me and told her pirate to get me out of her sight. Hook threw a bean over the side. Then they threw me in. I grabbed hold of Milah, I begged her to help me and she –’ Her voice hitched. She swallowed. ‘She said I was nothing but an accident. I should have died at birth. And she let me go.’

Belle clapped a hand to her mouth in horror and the other pressing to her abdomen as if to shield their child from this story of heartless abandonment. How could any mother be so cruel? 

Rumple didn’t know whether to cry or vomit. He could see it happening before his eyes; his beautiful baby girl being born on the pirate ship, surrounded by murders and thieves, the man who’d torn apart his family and the stony-faced gnat flying away so she could not claim to be part of this. He could see her looking up at her mother with bright curiosity, whereas Milah would be surveying her as if she’d given birth to a goblin and pushing her away. Hook, who could not deny his lover and keen to be rid of the crying beast, sprinkling the remaining dust on her. He could see the pain in her little face as she was forced to grow. He could see the (not the last) bean being thrown over the side, the portal opening, Milah dragging her fully grown daughter to her side and forcing her over. His daughter, scared and confused (hopefully wrapped in a blanket) clutching desperately to the woman who had brought her into this world and who was now forcing her into a raging whirlpool. Milah, looking at her like she was a disease contaminating her by touching her, screeching the most hurtful words a mother could say to her child, leaving her in no doubt that she was not wanted, before throwing her off, not even staying to watch her fall as she turned her back on her.

Of course his daughter would remember that terrible day. It had all happened in the first few minutes of her short life.

‘Where did you go?’ Rumple asked, scared of what he might hear.

‘I ended up in Neverland.’

It was worse than he thought. His daughter, a lost girl, had ended up on that cursed island with Peter Pan. It certainly explained why she was working for him in his shop if they’d had past dealings.

‘All on your own?’

‘No. Tiger Lily took me in. She taught me all she knew. The rest I learned from books. I was a quick study. I absorbed new information like a sponge.’

‘You like to read?’ said Belle eagerly.

His daughter smiled. ‘Oh yes! I love to read!’

Rumple smiled at the Belle-ness of her. Yes, they would get on well together. ‘What do you like to read?’

‘ _Everything_.’

‘So what did Blue have to say about Tiger Lily raising you?’

‘Nothing. She didn’t know. Tiger Lily said she failed one charge, she wouldn’t fail another. And I’m grateful. But I missed home. And I never knew my papa. I ran into Hook – who by now had earned his moniker – he told me you were dead.’

Rumple sighed. ‘And I was. The man I used to be was dead.’

‘No,’ she shook her head. ‘He was just hidden. I went to your village in the Frontlands but the house was empty. Had been for a long time. Then I found this.’ She held up Bae’s chalk drawing of his father before he became the Dark One. ‘I knew it was you. Moment I saw you. But you were gone.’

‘So you came here? But you’re not dead. Only the blood of someone who’s been to hell and back can open a portal to the Underworld. How did you get here?’

‘Phoenix blood.’

It was so simple and so brilliant that Rumple had to laugh. Yes, a phoenix was the very definition of dying and coming back to life. But he sobered up again. ‘And I wasn’t there. And when I was, I was in the lower levels baring punishment for my sins.’

Belle wrapped her arm around him consolingly.

‘Time moves differently here. When I went into your shop Pan was already there. In exchange for finding you I had to work for him. I didn’t mind. Just working in your shop made me feel closer to you. I used the crystal ball to watch you. I saw your whole life. It’s been pain and pleasure watching you.’

‘More pain than pleasure.’

‘Painful that I couldn’t be there with you. At the very least we wouldn’t have been alone.’

‘And you stayed…on your own for all these years?’

His daughter hung her head. ‘I had no choice.’

Rumple smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder. ‘Yes you did.’

It hurt that she had spent her life trapped in the Underworld waiting for him – if only just to see him – but in a way he was glad and moved that she’d thought he was worth the trouble.

_Tell me, Rumple, was he really worth all the trouble?_

_Every bit of it. He was family._

‘Thank you, Evanna.’

Evanna raised her head. ‘W-what did you call me?’

‘Evanna. Evanna Colette Gold. The woman who fought for her family and won.’ 

‘Evanna…’ said Evanna, trying out every syllable of her name. It felt good, it felt right. ‘I like it.’

‘So what do we do now?’ said Belle.

By an answer Evanna moved over to one of the cabinets and removed a pair of silver slippers.

‘We’re leaving?’

‘You’re pregnant,’ said Evanna. ‘Even without the contract you’re still a target.’

‘So I’m expected to stay behind in Storybrooke while you two are in danger?’

‘No,’ said Rumple. ‘I want both of you to go.’

‘What?’ said Belle and Evanna together indignantly.

‘My father. He’s determined to return to the land of the living and will use someone’s heart to do it. I have to put a stop to him for good. And I made a deal with Miss Swan.’

‘To get the pirate back in a day in exchange for not telling Belle you’re the Dark One,’ Evanna reminded him. ‘A day that’s now become a week and Belle found out on her own. I’d say that bit of blackmail is null and void. Besides it’s too late for Hook now anyway.’

‘What do you mean?’ said Belle.

‘Well in her haste to force father to bring him back, did Emma put a preservation spell on him? By now he’s probably stiff as a board. And beginning to smell.’

‘We’ll be lucky to get out of here at all,’ said Rumple. ‘I just want my girls to be safe.’

‘But how are you going to get back?’ said Belle. ‘If we take the slippers?’

‘Hades is keen to leave the Underworld. And will no doubt betray the Heroes to do it. I’m sure I can catch a lift through whatever portal he’ll conjure.’

Rumple walked up to Evanna and gave her back her Rumple doll. ‘You’ll take care of them while I’m gone, won’t you?’

Evanna nodded.

‘I’ll be back, I promise, I’ll sort out this little thing and I will be right back –’

‘Father,’ Evanna laughed, stemming his desperate reassurances. ‘I’ve spent my whole life waiting for this moment. I think I can survive the next five minutes without you.’

Rumple smiled. They hugged. Then he turned to his wife.

‘Belle –’

‘Twenty four hours,’ said Belle.

‘What?’

‘If you’re not back in twenty four hours then I’m clicking my heels and we’re coming back to get you. Deal?’

Rumple laughed. ‘Deal.’

Belle reached up and kissed him, her arms wrapped around his neck, much like she did the night he’d set off for the Underworld, except now she was leaving him here. ‘Come back to us.’

‘I always do,’ Rumple assured her.

Belle stepped into the silver slippers. She took Evanna’s hand and they turned for one last look at Rumple, who nodded reassuringly. Then she clicked her heels three times and together she and Evanna vanished, reappearing in Storybrooke in exactly the same spot in Rumple’s shop.

Rumple would be back. And then they would be a family again.

**Author's Note:**

> Evanna = Young fighter.
> 
> Colette = Victorious
> 
> Evanna was the name we thought was going to be for Rumple’s mother. You remember the one? The LIE the writers told that was actually a cover for the part of Merida. I understand using different names for audition descriptions so as not to spoil characters, but to say it’s Rumple’s mother when it clearly isn’t – that’s just wrong!
> 
> Nor did I like how they bashed Rumple in the description. 
> 
> Rumple’s gold dagger: https://clipartxtras.com/download/b1c1713230c25988a9f31a82458d4ee3aca257d4.html


End file.
